Starter for internal-combustion engines.



H. W. HAMILTON.

STARTER FOR INTERNAL coMRUsTloN ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I8. 1911.

LMJLSS. Patented Aug. 3,1915.

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HARRY W. HAMILTON, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE HAM-MER,

MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA,

INDIANA.

-A CORPORATION 0F STARTER FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENG-INES.

Application led October 18, k1911. Serial No. 655,410.

-while the engine is at rest, it has been proposed to start the engine by the injection of air under pressure into the engine cylinders. This produces an easystarting; but is open to the objections that in order to obtain the air under pressure it is necessary to use pumps or other moving parts, which easily get out-of order, and that the flooding of the engine cylinders with air makes the explosions .on several succeeding operations of the engine piston more dicult to obtain,

on account of the resultant thinning of the explosive mixture.

It is the object of my present invention to obtain an easy starting of an internal combustion engine, without shock to the bearings, and without'the objections noted above. v In carrying out my invention, the engine is started by injecting into it a gas under pressure which is produced and maintained, or rather replenished, to a substantially constant value as the gas is used, this gas being preferably a combustible gas obtained from a chemical gas generator. The most convenient gas for this purpose now known to me is acetylene gas, which may be obtained cheaply at the necessary pressure by the action of water on calcuim carbid in a suitable generator which preferably has some storage capacity.

The various novel features of my invention will appear from the description and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

The single figure of the drawing .illustrates niy invention semi-diagrammatically.

yThe engine 10, which is shown as a fourcylinder engine having the usual inlet and exhaust connections, Vmay be of any desired type. In addition, each engine cylinder is connected by a pipe 11 to a suitable distributer 12, which driven, as by a chain 13 and sprocket wheels of proper size, from the engine shaft 14,' and is timed in a manner identical with the usual timing of the ignition. In each pipe 11 is a suitablevalve 8, which is preferably located close to the engine cylinder. The valves 8 are preferably controlled in common by a single operating handle 9. The distributer is supplied, through a pipe 15 and a central valve from a chemical gas generator 17.

A convenient form of chemical gas generator lis shown in the drawing. Here the Patented Aug. s, isis.'

generator comprises two icompartments 18 20. The two compartments are for calcium 1 carbid and water respectively,which may be introduced into their proper compartments through openings normally closed by screw plugs 21 and 22. There may also be a safety valve 221. A pipe 23 leads fromithe bottom of the compartment 19 to the top of the compartment 18, the branched end of the pipe 23 in the compartment 18 being provided with a number of openings to distribute the water' over the carbid.

The plug 21, which is screwed into place after the two compartmentslS'and 19 have both been properly charged and the plug 22 screwed in place, is provided with a cup 24 for the initial charge of water. This initial charge of water, which is discharged upon the calcium carbid after the cap 2l.-

has been screwed in place andthe generator turned to the position shown, reacts with the calcium carbid to produce acetylene gas; which raises the pressure within the compartment 18 and forces its way through the pipe 23 into the compartment 19 until the* gas pressure within the two compartments is the same. This gas pressure is sufficiently high so that when it is supplied to thepengine l0 it operates such engine by direct uid pressure. The value of this gas pressure may' be regulated by varyingv the amount of water in the initial charge. As gas is used from the compartment 18, as through the pipe 15, the pressure within such compartment is diminished, whereupon the pressure above the water in the compartment 19 forces some water through the pipe 23 into the compartment 18, where it reacts with the calcium carbid to form more gas and thus raise the pressure within the gas generator to its normal value. The

' ing an internal v modification.

involve a departure parts are so proportioned that this pressure is thus maintained substantially constant', or, perhaps more accurately, replenishto a substantially constant value.

ln order to start the engine 10, the valves 8 and 16 are opened and gas is supplied from the gas generator 17 through the distributerY 12 into the proper cylinder or cylinders of the engine 10, which cylinders are those which are on their explosion strokes. The pressure of this injected gas starts the engine, which immediately after starting The pressure produced by the gas generator 17 is maintained at, or replenished to, a

vsubstantially constant value for all of these startings. y

My inventionis not limited to the precise arrangement shown, but is capable of wide I therefore aim to cover all modifications of my invention which do not from its spirit and scope as 'set` forth in the lfollowingv claims.

What I claim as new is:

1. That improvement inthe art of starting freshly producing a warm gas under sufficient producer pressureto drive anengine forwardly, injecting the said freshly produced gas into the engine cylinder, and subsequently connecting the said engine with combustion engine compris-f a regular fuel supply and the ignition means. v

2. That improvement in the art of starting an internall combustion engine comprising freshly producing a warm combustible gas under sulicientproducer pressure to drive an engine forwardly, injecting the said freshly produced gas into the engine cylinder, and subsequently connecting the said engine with a regular fuel supply and the ignition means.

3. rlhe combination with an internal combustion engine provided with usual fuel supply and ignting means, of an automatic gas generator associated with the engine' and provided with means for controlling gas generation vto replenish the gas pressure to a substantially constant value, by which a freshly generated warm gas may be injected into the engine cylinder under suiicient pressure without ignition to start the engine forwardly. v

4. The combination with an internal combustion' engine provided with usual fuel supply and igniting means, of an automatic gas generator associated with the engine and provi-ded with means for controlling gas generation to replenish the gas pressure to a substantially constant value, by which a freshly generated warm combustible gas may be injected into the engine cylinder under suilicient pressure without ignition to start the engine forwardly.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Indianapolis, Indiana, this sixteenth day of October, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and eleven.

HARRY w. HAMILTON. [n 5.]

Witnesses:

FRANK A.' Film, Gr. B. SCHLEL 

